Re: Credit Cards with Cosigner

20 year old college student right here who got a $500 Student Mastercard with the Florida State University Credit Union. At first I thought they denied me because I got the dreaded "7-10 business days" message, but I received a call the next morning saying I needed to come in and become a member of the CU and my card would be mailed to me! Paid like $10 one-time fee then $5 to put into the required savings account (no monthly fees or anything).

Also got approved for 2 Cap1 cards...but I have NEVER been able to get approved for any of these so-called "student" cards, and I've applied for a lot --even Capital One's "journey" student card.

Re: Credit Cards with Cosigner

Let us know what you find out with Chase. I just talked to their underwriting department last week about being added as joint on DW's account and was told they don't have joint accounts anymore.

Well, THAT was easy (presses "EASY" button)....

I snuck out of work a few minutes early last night and stopped by the Chase office by my house. The guy pulled up my accounts (I am a signer on daughter's as well, mainly for emergency purposes) and said we had a pre-approved Visa we could use for this. The way they have to do it is, open the account in my name and issue daughter's card as an authorized user. Once the card arrives and we activate it, I need to call the guy at Chase and he does whatever needs to be done to change her to a joint accountholder. Eventually I can have myself removed from the account if I want, but I probably will just leave my name on it as long as 1. she's our dependent and we are paying tuition and most of her bills anyway, and 2. she doesn't do anything stupid...so far so good with the other card. Any stupidity and I just close the account and she's on her own from now on, which I don't anticipate. 10 minutes and I was on my way home.

For what it is worth, we pulled daughter's credit report from Experian last night and there is NOTHING on there except the two inquiries from Citi and Capital One. So her being an authorized user on my other card for 3+ years (Fifth Third) has done nothing to help her establish credit. At least we know this one will go on her record as well as mine, and I will probably close the other card out because it really doesn't serve a purpose now.

Dunno why they told you what they did, n777ua...this really couldn't have been any easier.

Re: Credit Cards with Cosigner

My friend added me as an authorized user on her credit card. She has excellent credit history. I got the card in the mail with only my name on it. Is this going to help me build credit? also, the bank didn't ask for my personal innfo like social security card, they just asked for my name and DOB..will this be a problem when reporting the card activity?

Re: Credit Cards with Cosigner

I went through this with my daughter. She is a 19 year old college student.

When a student first starts applying for a cc, the problem is that they do not have a credit record at all. They are a ghost.

I had my daughter first apply for CITI as well. DENIED. She did not even have a thin file, she had no file of course. They would not approve at all.

I had been told by a couple of my companies to put her on as an AU as well. But I also did not want to do that.

I researched the heck out of it. It appeared that Capital One was the easiest card to get for a college student. She applied online and PRESTO! Approved INSTANTLY with a $500.00 credit limit. THE KEY IS THAT THE STUDENT MUST HAVE A JOB. My daughter works part time and makes decent money as a college student. If the student does not have any source of income on their own, then it appears that they will not get approved.

For 6 months, I told her to charge ONE thing on it every month (no more than $35.00 which is 7% of the credit limit), let it post and then PIF. She has done this religiously. She would either get some gas at the pump, books, clothing, etc.

6 months later, she applied online for Zync and was instantly approved. She then applied for CITI forward (student) and was approved with $800 CL. When she applied for Citi 6 months later after her initial rejection, they still did not instantly approve, but the screen provided a phone number to call them. They wanted to verify her address, and they approved her on the phone. After all of the hours and days I have spent reading posts on here, I realized that she needed to have a credit MIX as well. She applled for ONE store card ( I told her to choose wisely because she should only have one, and get one that she will actually use in rotation). Of course she chose Victoria Secret, and was instantly approved for $500.00.

She has 4 cards now that are ONLY used in rotation. She never spends more than 10% of the cards CL (averages between 6-7%), and pays in full every month once it reports. Her cards now have to AGE. She took 4 hits in less than a year, so that is a lot. The only thing really missing is some sort of installment account. Instead of paying for college in full every semester, I may have her get a small student loan at some point ($1000.00), but only after a year has elapsed from her last CC inquiry.

Some will say it is crazy for a 19 year old to have 4 cards. I always advise caution with credit. See how they do with one card. If they are pristine with it, then it is OK to add some to the mix. A good credit mix will get a better score. If they are maxing out every month, then don't get any more cards. Keep the utilization LOW, and always pay on time. I am embarrassed to admit that her credit score is now better than mine. LOL. BUT......I am so happy to pass on all of the information I have learned on myfico to my daughter.

Re: Credit Cards with Cosigner

Let us know what you find out with Chase. I just talked to their underwriting department last week about being added as joint on DW's account and was told they don't have joint accounts anymore.

Well, THAT was easy (presses "EASY" button)....

I snuck out of work a few minutes early last night and stopped by the Chase office by my house. The guy pulled up my accounts (I am a signer on daughter's as well, mainly for emergency purposes) and said we had a pre-approved Visa we could use for this. The way they have to do it is, open the account in my name and issue daughter's card as an authorized user. Once the card arrives and we activate it, I need to call the guy at Chase and he does whatever needs to be done to change her to a joint accountholder. Eventually I can have myself removed from the account if I want, but I probably will just leave my name on it as long as 1. she's our dependent and we are paying tuition and most of her bills anyway, and 2. she doesn't do anything stupid...so far so good with the other card. Any stupidity and I just close the account and she's on her own from now on, which I don't anticipate. 10 minutes and I was on my way home.

For what it is worth, we pulled daughter's credit report from Experian last night and there is NOTHING on there except the two inquiries from Citi and Capital One. So her being an authorized user on my other card for 3+ years (Fifth Third) has done nothing to help her establish credit. At least we know this one will go on her record as well as mine, and I will probably close the other card out because it really doesn't serve a purpose now.

Dunno why they told you what they did, n777ua...this really couldn't have been any easier.

Fair enough, but in this case she's been an AU on that account for 3+ years. Maybe it would have something to do with her being under 18 when we initially did it? We gave it to her around the time she first got her drivers' license so there could never be an excuse for running out of gas (plus we would have had to hand her a wad of cash to fill the tank with and I didn't want her walking around the high school with a large-ish chunk of cash). At this point I don't even remember what info we had to provide for her to get the card.

Re: Credit Cards with Cosigner

I highly recommend looking into credit reunions. They are extremely helpful and are unlike any other banking experience you have ever had. For instance do you thin BofA would call you to telll you were about to overdraft because of that purhcase you made at the mall and give you a chance to return it or transfer funds before getting slapped with a 38 dollar fee? I don't think so.

Credit Unions are personal and caring. I think you may find your solution to your problem there.

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